MEDIA NEWS FOR COMMUNICATIONS WORLD MAY 27, 2000 BY GLENN HAUSER
COLOMBIAN NEWS DIRECTORS FACE DEATH THREATS
A survey published by Sabana University in Bogotá reports that 20 per
cent of all news media directors in Colombia have received death
threats. The survey’s results showed that the guerrillas,
paramilitary and drug traffickers pose very severe threats to freedom
of the press in Colombia. So reported the Radio Cadena Nacional
website via BBC Monitoring.
RADIO STATIONS TAKEN OVER IN PARAGUAY
In Paraguay, three radio stations were seized temporarily by
Oviedistas, who are supporters of a general who had previously
attempted a coup d’etat. The Spanish news agency EFE via BBC
Monitoring reports that commandos made up of retired military
personnel took over Radio Cardinal, Radio Ñandutí, and 970-AM.
BURMA PRESS ARTICLE
Thunderbird, the online journalism review of the University of
British Columbia, has published a four-part series on freedom of the
press in Malaysia, the Philippines, and now Burma, detailing the
difficulties faced by Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and the
Democratic Voice of Burma, in newsgathering and broadcasting into
Myanmar. The link to the latest article, called `Radio Free Burma` is
in the script for this report:
http://www.journalism.ubc.ca/thunderbird/2000/march/burma.html
MORE FREE SERBIAN WEB RADIO
To counter increasing media controls in Yugoslavia, another station,
Pancevo Radio, has started broadcasting on the internet, with news
every hour, and the main bulletins at 0600 and 1421 GMT. BBC
Monitoring, quoting B2-92, says Pancevo Radio is available via
http://www.freeserbia.org Yugoslav authorities have taken B2-92 off
the air.
SOUTH LEBANON MEDIA CHANGES
The Voice of Hope has closed down and crated up its short- and
mediumwave transmitters which had been under Israeli protection in
southern Lebanon. Hans Johnson of Cumbre DX reports that High
Adventure Ministries, the American Protestants who own the station,
have moved their shortwave service to transmitters of Deutsche
Telekom, in Germany.
BBC Monitoring also says the South Lebanon Army`s mouthpiece, the
Voice of the South, which used to broadcast in Arabic from Kfar Killa
on 756 kHz, was no longer heard on May 24th following the withdrawal
of Israeli troops and the surrender or flight of SLA personnel.
MSNBC COMES TO TURKEY
The American-based Cable News Network had major problems trying to
set up a branch in Turkey, but now its rival MSNBC has set up a joint
news website with NTV, the Turkish news channel. The joint website is
called, and this is a mouthful, NTVMSNBC. Turkish news will be
disseminated to the world, via http://www.ntvmsnbc.com That was
reported by `Birlik` in Nicosia, Cyprus, via BBC Monitoring.
RADIO JAPAN`S 65TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
NHK Radio Japan commemorates its 65th anniversary June 1st. From May
29th to June 9th, NHK will be offering a special website with some
English programming on demand, along with special interactive radio
programs and news scripts. There might also be special shortwave
programming. In the swprograms newsgroup, Richard Cuff refers us to
http://www.nhk.or.jp/dream/
MAYAK SPECIAL BROADCAST AND MAKEOVER
During Soviet times, the Mayak service was to be heard all over the
shortwave bands, but it has been cut back and back until now there
are no regular shortwave broadcasts except some lower frequency SSB
relays via Belarus. But for three days only, Friday, Saturday and
Sunday, May 26th, 27th and 28th, there is a one hour daily special
shortwave test for the sake of nostalgia, and to give DX listeners
one last chance to hear and verify Mayak on shortwave. Listen at 1500
UT on 15410, which is a 200 kilowatt transmitter in Novosibirsk
beamed 291 degrees toward Moscow, the Riviera and Buenos Aires.
Reception reports are actively solicited, preferably with brief
soundfiles, to radiotest@mail.ru Full data verifications will be made
by E-mail, or if requested, by P-mail. Thanks to Sergei Sossedkin in
Michigan for this news.
Mayak`s manager Irina Gerasimova is also making drastic changes in
personnel and style; forty new people have been hired and forty
previous Mayak staffers are to be made redundant. First Deputy
Chairman of the radio station Oleg Kupriyanov told `Nezavisimaya
Gazeta` that in its new form Mayak is a helpless and pitiable parody
of Ekho of Moskow radio rather than a serious news station...
And that`s the media news on Communications World. For VOA News Now,
I`m Glenn Hauser.